Wearable electronic hearing aid



March 7, 1950 s, p s Re. 23,203

WEARABLE ELECTRONIC HEARING AID HAVING THE AMPLIFIER AND THE BATTERIES CONTAINED IN A COMMON CASING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed March 17, 1944 INVENTOR. Sam. Posen.

March 7, 1950 s. POSEN 23,203 WEARABLE ELECTRONIC HEARING AID HAVING THE AMPLIFIER AND THE BATTERIES CONTAINED IN- A COMMON CASING Original Filed March 17, 1944 -2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 5 am Poser: B Y 6/ Reissued Mar. 7, 1950 WEARABLE ELECTRONIC HEARING AID HAVING THE- AMPLIFIER. AND. THE BAT- TERIES CONTAINED IN'A COMMON CAS- Sam- Posen, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Beltane Hearing: Aid C0,, Chicago,.Ill.' a corporation of Illinois Original No; 2,482,288; dated'September 20, 1949, SerialNm 526,877; March 17', 1944. Application for reissue October-13, 1949, Seria'LNo. 121,991

Matter enclosed in heavy brackets Ilappears in the original patent but forms no part of this reissue specification; matter printed in italics indicates the additions made by reissue Claims.

This invenion relates to hearing aids of the type to be'worn on" thebody of the user.

Heretofore, wearable hearing aids have been composed of three distinct units, each to be worn on another part of thebody. These three units are (l) a receiver tobe placed in or close to the ear, (2) an electron tube aplifier together with a microphone arranged in a casing to be worn within the garment of the user, e. g., in a vest pocket, and (3) power supply batteries placed in another casing and to be worn within some other portion of the garment, such as in another pocket thereof; The receiver is electrically connected to the amplifierbymeans of a cord and likewise there is a connecting cord between the amplifier unit and the battery unit.

It is one of the main objects of this invention to-combine the microphone, the amplifier and the batteries of a hearing aid into a single unit which is small and light enough to be carried on the body; There are known hearing aid sets having the microphone, the amplifier and the batteries placed in a common carrying case but these sets are of the portable or semiportable type weighing from live to ten pounds and being in' size about equalto an ordinary small table radio set. A set of this kind can be carried on ahandle from one place to another, e. g., froin one room to another, but of course itcould not be worn inconspicuously on the body of the user as is the purpose of a hearing aid of the wearable type.

It is a further object of the invention to avoid the use of the cord which heretofore has been necessary in wearable hearing aids for establishing a connection between the batteries and the amplifier. By dispensing with this cord various inconveniences caused just by this cord are avoided; Not only is such a cord liable to break, but the rubbing of this cord against the garment of the user or against other parts of the hearing aid which is unavoidable on account of the manner such a hearing aid is worn, will manifest itself in the receiver as noises which will be the more disturbing as they are amplified by the amplifier.

It is a further object of the invention to'provide a wearable hearing aid in which the batteries and the electron tube amplifier together with the microphone are'so distributed within a single casing that the latter becomes small enough to be worn in a garment pocket of ordinary size.

It is a further object of the invention" to provide a wearable hearing aid which'can beworn conveniently in an outside. pocket of theuser;

A further object of the invention is to provide a wearable electronic hearing aid' having the microphone, the electron tnbe amplifier andithe batteries all incloseelina flat casing small enough to be worn in an ordinary garment pocket, this casing being so constructed and the batteries, the electron tubes and the microphone being so arranged the casing that vthe-partsmentioned are-accessibleby the exertion-of dz'flerent efforts, namely-,- saidbatteries byihe smallest-snort; said electron" tubes by a greater efior-t andsaid, microphone by rust-ill greater'efiort- The invention further. contemplates to provide a wearable hearing aidwith midget electron tubes having each a -plugeinbase which can be inserted into-a socket whose axisrnay 'be arranged at -anydesired angle to the direction in which thecaxi-sof the tubeuis desired to belocated Otlierobjectsand advantages of the-invention Will appear. as the descripti'on proceeds; reference beinghad to-the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of.- example oneembodiment of theinvention, and inwhich:

Fig. 1 isa horizontalwiew; partly in section; of the upper partof -a -wearable-hearing aid accordihg tolthe invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view on-the line-2--2 of-Fig; 1;

Big. 3 is a verticalcross-sectional view on the line-3 -3 of 'Fig. 2; I

Fig. 4- is-an-elevational 'frontview of the hearing aid with the front 'coverof the casing removed? 5" is a: vertical cross-sectional view on the line 5"5 of Fig. ljand Fig. Wise-perspective view-ofone of-tlie tubes.

The hearing aid shown-in the drawings comprises-a casing A composed of a front cover ID; a lower back. cover H and an upper back coveror closure l-ZI back cover- H are connected-- at the bottom end of the casingby means-of a spring hinge [3 per mitting the lower back'cover H to be readily openedand: closed. Extending across the casing between the side walls-I l" and I5 of the front cover 'lll and integral with this front cover is a partition wall l6 which, together with a flange 59 of'the upperback cover l2, div-ides the casing intoa lower compartment ll and'an upper compartment 58 The partition wall. It is so arranged and-shaped that thelowercompartment I'l limited thereby can accommodate twobatteries I8 and I 9; l8 being afilament supply A-battery, and Hlaplatesuppl'y B-battery. The compartment 58" above the'partition IB'is divided lengthwise into two spaces kill-"and 2! by means of a panel 3| secured to lugs of the casing A by means of screws 22 which, extend through the upper back The front cover it and the lower cover 12 into said lugs so that upon unscrewing of these screws 22 the back cover 12 can be removed. A microphone 23 is mounted at one side of said panel 3| in such a manner as to extend into space 2| and to be situated behind openings 24 of the front cover Ill. The microphone 23 may be of any suitable type and is preferably a crystal microphone.

The electron tube amplifier in the amplifier compartment 53 is shown as comprising three tubes 25, 26, and 21. The amplifier may follow any conventional circuit well known to those skilled in the art and may be, for instance, a resistance coupled amplifier. Since this invention is concerned with the structural arrangement of the elements of the hearing aid and not with any particular circuit in which the elements of the amplifier are arranged electrically, no wiring has been shown in the drawing. Also, only those structural elements of the amplifier are shown whose dimensions are appreciable enough to have bearing on the space requirements of the device.

The electron tubes 25, 26, 21 are midget tubes and their bulbs are preferably of fiat shape. Depending on what particular circuit is desired to be used, these tubes may have one or more grids. For example, all three tubes may be pentodes. Each tube 25, 26, and 21 is provided with a base 28, 29, and 30, respectively, arranged at a distance from the corresponding bulb. These bases 28, 29, are fiat discs, their only purpose being to hold contact pins 33 in their proper relationship to each other. The bulb of each tube is connected with the base thereof solely by the leading-in wires 32 which are secured to the pins 33 of the base and a substantial part of the length of these leading-in wires extends freely between the bulb and the base. Sockets 34, 35, and 36 mounted in the panel 3| are provided to receive the pins 33 of the bases 28, 29, 3B of the tubes 25, 26, 21. With tubes of the type just described the bulbs may be placed in any desired position with respect to the panel 3| and still be plugged in a socket permanently mounted in said panel. In the example shown, all three tubes 25, 26, 21 are arranged in a plane parallel to the panel 3|, that is, in-a plane which is rectangular to the direction of the axis of each of the bases 28, 29, 30. While the bulbs are all shown to extend in the horizontal direction, each of these bulbs could extend under any desired angle to the horizontal direction, or as shown in Fig. 4 for the tube 26, the bulb of any tube may be so arranged that its axis is some distance above or below the center of the corresponding base. Thereby the best possible use of the available space can be made in each particular case. It will further be seen that each tube of a screw driver or the like so as to adapt the instrument to the needs of the person who is going to use the hearing aid. The conventional volume control in the form of a variable resistor 40 is arranged in the center of the top part of the instrument fitting into a cut-out of the panel 3| and being operable from the outside by means of a knob 4|. For the connection of the amplifier with the receiver (not shown), two socket contacts 42 and 43 are provided which are secured to the panel 3| at the upper end thereof. Two contact pins 44, 45 of a plug 46 carried by the receiver cord 41 may be inserted into the socket contacts 42, 43.

The plug 46 is of small dimensions since it carries only the two contact pins 44, 45 for the receiver cord 41. No plug connection is necessary for connecting the batteries l8, IS with the amplifier. Metal strips 48 and 49 sunk into the under surface of the partition wall |6 are in direct contact with one pole of each of the two batteries I8 and IS, the latter being forced against these strips by means of springs 50 and 5|. The springs 50, 5| at the same time establish the electrical connection between the other pole of the two batteries l8, I9 and a ground plate 52. The contact strip 49 has a bent-up flange 54 which extends from the battery compartment |1 into the amplifier compartment 58 and is secured to the panel 3| by means of a stud 56 or the like. Likewise, the contact strip 48 is provided with a bent-up flange 53 fastened to the panel 3| by means of a stud or the like 55.

By arranging the microphone 23 and the various elements of the amplifier in at least two parallel planes instead of all at the same side of a panel and, in particular, by arranging the amplifier tubes opposite to the microphone, such as by placing the bulbs of the tubes 25, 26, 21 at the back side of the panel 3| behind the microphone 34, a panel of substantially smaller size can be used than is necessary if the microphone and all the elements of the amplifier are mounted on the same side of a panel. More specifically, a panel of so much smaller size can be used that in spite of the addition of the height of the batteries the total height of the combined amplifier-battery unit is not greater, or not substantially greater, than the height of the amplifier unit alone of conventional hearing aids. The thickness of the new instrument is not greater than required by the thickness of the batteries, that is to say, not greater than the thickness of the separate battery unit heretofore used. I have found that I can make my instrument with approximately the same 25, 2G, or 21 may be easily exchanged without unsoldering the leading-in wires of the old tube and soldering on the leading-in wires of the new tube as has been necessary heretofore with midget tubes for wearable hearing aids, these tubes having been used without a base.

31 denotes a choke coil which is mounted to the same side of the panel 3| as the microphone 23, with a small portion of the core of this choke penetrating through an opening in the panel 3|. Also at this side of the panel 3| there is arranged a tone control 38 having a shaft which extends through the panel 3| into the battery compartment H where it ends in a slotted head 39. When the lower back cover I is opened, the batteries IS, IS as well as the head 39 of the tone control 38 lie open and the latter can be adjusted by means over-all dimensions as are those of the old amplifier unit alone, and that the new instrument can be worn in one of those pockets of a garment which heretofore have been utilized to accommodate either the amplifier unit or the battery unit alone. The weight. of the new instrument is substantially smaller than the sum of the weights of the amplifier unit and the battery unit heretofore used in wearable hearing aids. To give an example of the overall dimensions and the weight of instruments built according to the present invention it may be mentioned that such instruments can be easily made as small as about 5x2%-.,x1 inches, such an instrument having a total weight of approximately eight ounces.

It should be noted that while the conventional wearable instrument is commonly worn in two inside pockets of the user in order to conceal the cord connecting the battery unit with the amplifier unit, the new instrument may be Worn '5 conveniently in anputsidepocket becausethe number of units to beplaced in pockets is now reduced to a single unit and the cord which heretofore had to be con'oealedis eliminated altogether. It will be obvious that the microphone of the instrument is better exposed to the oncoming sounds if the instrument is placed in an outside pocket.

I desire it'to be understood that while I have shown in th drawing a'certain' embodiment of the invention, this embodiment has been given byway of example only'and. that various changes, rearrangements, and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a wearable hearing aid of the kindwherein a microphone, an electron tube amplifier having midget tubes and power supply batteries for saidamplifier are all enclosed in a flatcasing small enough to be worn in'a'n ordinary garment pocket and wherein said microphone and said amplifier are mounted on a panelv dividing lengthwise the upper portion of said casing and said batteries are housed in the lower portion of said casing, the combination of az casing having a relatively fixed front wall extending over the entire height of said casing, and aback wall composed of an upper back cover and a lower back cover, said in a microphone, an electron tube amplifier hav-- ing midget tubes and power supply batteries for said amplifier are all enclosed in a flat casing small enough to be worn in an ordinary garment pocket and wherein said microphone and said amplifier are mountedon a panel, in combination, a casing having a-relatively fixed front wall extending over the entire height of said casing and a back wall composedof anupper back cover and a lower back cover, said two back covers being separately openable relative to said front wall and said lower back cover being supported on a hinge so as to be readily openable without the aid of tools, partitioning means eX- tending from said front wall to said back wall so as to divide said casing into an upper and a lower compartment separated from oneanother by said partitioning means, said microphone and said amplifier being housed in the upper of said two compartments and mounted so on said panel that said microphone and some of the amplifier elements are on that side of said panel which faces said front wall and the other amplifier elements, including 'said tubes, on the side of said panel which faces said upper back cover, and said batteries being housed in the lower of said two compartments, said partitioning means being composed of 'two transverse Wall portions one secured to said front wall and the other to saidupper back cover, said two transverse wall portions forming together a bottom closure for said upper compartment also when said lower back cover is fiung open.

3. In a wearable'hearing aid of the kind wherein a microphone, an electron tube amplifier having midget tubes having leading-in Wires extending from the outside into the tubes, and power supply batteries 'for said amplifier are all en"- ,ing and said back wall being composed of an upper back cover and a lower back cover, said two back covers bein separately openable relative to said front wall and said lower backcover being supported on a hinge so as to bereadily openabl without the aid of tools, partitioning means extending from said front wall to said back wall so as to divide said casing into an upper and a lower compartment separated from one another by said partitioning means, said microphone andsaid amplifier being housed in said upper compartment with said tubes being arranged on said panel so as to face said upper back cover, said batteries being housed in said lower compartment, and a plug-in socket for each of said midget tubes mounted in said panel with its axis perpendicular'thereto to receive the leading-in wires of its coordinated tube, the end portion of each of the leading-in wires. of each tube being bent down at a substantially right angle so that said tubes arepluggable'intoutheir sockets and, when so plugged in, said bent-up portions of said leading-in wires extend perpendicularly to said panel and the longitudinal axis of the bulb of each of saidtubes extends parallelly to said panel and perpendicularly to the axis of its coordinated socket.

4. A wearable electronic hearing aidasrola'imed in claim 3, wherein said partitioningrmeans are composed of two transverse wall portions one secured to said front wallxand the'other to said upper back cover, said two transverse wall portions forming together a bottom closure for said upper compartment also when said lower back cover is flung open.

5. In a wearable hearing. aid of the kind wherein a microphone, can-electrontu'baam'plificr having midget tubes and power supply'butt'eries for said amplifier are all enclosed in a flal cusing small enough to be worn in, an ordinary garment pocket and wherein said microphone and said amplifier are housed in a portion of the length of said casing and said batteries are housed in the remaining portion of said casing, the-combination of a casing having a relatively fired front wall extending over the entire height of said casing and a black cover supported on a hinge so as to be readily openable relative to said front wall without the aid of toola-a closure at the back of said portion of thelength of said casing which houses said microphone and said amplifier, said back cover being openable without opening said closure, said closure being held in cloaed position relative to said front wall by such means that to open said closure more has to be done than for gaining access to said casing portion housing said batteries, with the arrangement of said microphone and some of the amplifier elements so as to face said front wall and of the other amplifier elements, including said tubes, behind said microphone so as to face sa-icl closure.

6. I u a wearable hearing aid of the kind wherein a microphone, an electron tube amplifier havihg midget tubes and power supply batteries for said amplifier are all enclosed in "a flat casing small enough to be worn in anordiuary garment pocket and wherein said microphone and said lz'mplifier are housed in a portion of the length of said casing and said batteries are housed in the remaining portion of said casing, the combination of a casing having a relatively fixed front wall extending over the entire height of said casing and a back cover supported on a hinge so as to be readily openable relative to said front wall without the aid of tools, a closure at the back of said portion of the length of said casing which houses said microphone and said amplifier, said back cover being openable without opening said closure, said closure being held in closed position relative to said front wall by such means that to open said closure more has to be done than for gaining access to said casing portion housing said batteries with the arrangement of said microphone and some of the amplifier elements so as to face said front wall and of the other amplifier elements, including said tubes, behind said microphone and so as to face said closure, and with partitioning means extending from said front wall to said closure so as to form a bottom closure for said casing portion housing said amplifier also when said back cover is flung open.

7. In a wearable hearing aid of the kind wherein a microphone, an electron tube amplifier having midget tubes and power supply batteries for said amplifier are all enclosed in a flat casing small enough to be worn in an ordinary garment pocket and wherein said microphone and said amplifier are housed in the upper portion of said casing and said batteries are housed in the lower portion of said casing, the combination of a casing having a relatively fixed front wall extending over the entire height of said casing and a back wall composed of an upper back cover and a lower back cover, said two back covers being separately openable relative to said front wall and said lower back cover being supported on a hinge so as to be readily openable without the aid of tools, with the arrangement of said microphone and some of the amplifier elements so as to face said front wall and of the other amplifier elements, including said tubes, so as to face said upper back cover.

8. In a wearable hearing aid of the kind wherein a microphone, an electron tube amplifier having midget tubes and power supply batteries for said amplifier are all enclosed in a flat casing small enough to be worn in an ordinary garment pocket and wherein said microphone and said amplifier are housed in the upper portion of said casing and said batteries are housed in the lower portion of said casing, the combination of a casing having a relatively fixed front wall extending over the entire height of said casing and a back wall composed of an upper back cover and a lower back cover, said two back covers being separately openable relative to said front wall and said lower back cover being supported on a hinge so as to be readily openable without the aid of tools, with the arrangement of said microphone and some of the amplifier elements so as to face said front wall and of the other amplifier elements, including said tubes, so as to face said upper back cover, and with partitioning means extending from said front wallto said back wall so as to form a bottom closure for said upper casing portion housing said amplifier also when said back cover is flung open.

9. In a wearable hearing aid of the kind wherein a microphone, an electrone tube amplifier having midget tubes and power supply batteries for said amplifier are all enclosed in a flat casing small enough to be worn in an ordinary garment pocket and wherein said microphone and said amplifier are housed in a portion of the length of said casing and said batteries are housed in the remaining portion of said casing, the combination of a casing having a relatively fixedv front wall extending over the entire height of said casing and a back cover supported on a hinge so as to be readily openable relative to said front wall without the aid of tools, a closure at the back of said portion of the length of said casing which houses said microphone and'said amplifier, said back cover being openable without opening said closure, said closure being held in closed position relative to said front wall by such means that to open said closure more has to be done than for gaining access to said casing portion housing said batteries, with the arrangement of said microphone and some of the amplifier elements so as to face said front wall and of the other amplifier elements, including said tubes, behind said microphone so as to face said closure, and a plug-in socket for each of said midget tubes arranged so that said tubes may be plugged into or out of their coordinated plug-in sockets upon said closure having been opened.

10. In a wearable hearing aid of the kind wherein a microphone, an electron tube amplifier having midget tubes and power supply batteries for said amplifier are all enclosed in a flat casing small enough to be worn in an ordinary garment pocket and wherein said microphone and said amplifier are housed in the upper portion of said casing and said batteries are housed in the lower portion of said casing, the combination of a casing having a relatively fixed front wall extending over theentire height of said casing and a back wall composed of an upper back cover and a lower back cover, said two back covers being separately openable relative to said front wall and said lower back cover being supported on a hinge so as to be readily openable without the aid of tools,

with the arrangement of' said microphone and some of the amplifier elements so as to face said front wall and of the other amplifier elements, including said tubes, so as to face said upper back cover, and a plug-in and socket for each of said midget tubes arranged so that said tubes may be plugged into or out of their coordinated plug-in sockets upon said upper back cover having been-opened.

SAM POSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent or the original patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number I Name Date 352,084 Drescher Nov. 2, 1886 1,578,646 Craft Mar. 30, 1926 1,630,028 Reynolds Mar. 24, 1927 1,688,976 Lum Oct. 23, 1928 2,017,358 Taylor Oct. 15, 1935 2,148,233 Carlson Feb. 21, 1939 2,182,865 Franzblau Dec. 12, 1939 2,192,669 Wengel Mar. 5, 1940 2,308,550 Shapiro Jan. 19, 1943 2,327,137 Shapiro Aug. 17, 1943 2,327,320 Shapiro Aug. 17, 1943 2,333,028 Merrill Oct. 26, 1943 2,424,422 Tresise et al July 22, 1947 2,431,198 Posen Nov. 18, 1947 2,444,302 Lybarger June 29, 1948 

